Neil Warnock's side have struggled to find the winning consistency – with four draws in their previous six matches – that underpinned their Championship promotion campaign two years ago.

But Cardiff are slowly building momentum and now lie within two points of the play-off positions.

This win moved them into the top half of the Championship table and above QPR, who were the architects of their own misfortune with careless finishing betraying tidy approach play time and again.

Rangers had won four of their previous five away games and came close to taking the lead within five minutes after making a bright start in more ways than one.

Ilias Chair found Bright Osayi-Samuel with a wonderful cross-field pass and the wideman evaded the attention of Joe Bennett to force a save from the alert Alex Smithies.

But Cardiff were ahead after 11 minutes as their customary usual set-piece danger paid dividends.

Lee Tomlin floated a free-kick to the far post where Aden Flint rose above his marker and nodded down for Morrison to score his first goal since April.

Rangers responded well to that setback, with the unmarked Angel Rangel failing to make contact with a cross from fellow full-back Ryan Manning and Dominic Ball firing over from 25 yards.

Tomlin drove just wide as Cardiff manufactured a rare shooting opportunity, but Rangers were almost level as Eberechi Eze's 20-yard curler bounced back off an upright.

Smithies held Chair's low shot as Rangers continued to press but Cardiff doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time.

Rangers switched off at a corner and the unmarked Pack had the simplest tasks of tapping home Gavin Whyte's cross from a few yards out.

Cardiff led 2-0, despite having just 28 per cent possession in the first half, and nearly added a third straight after the break.

Robert Glatzel climbed to meet Whyte's centre, but the ball was just too high for him and the German striker headed over.

Manning curled a free-kick into the side netting and went even closer as the Cardiff woodwork was struck for the second time, with Josh Scowen sending the rebound wide.

The game was put beyond Rangers when Pack and Leandro Bacuna combined and Paterson, who had only been on the pitch seven minutes, swept his volley into the ground and into the corner of the net.